Guidance Delivers on Governor Hochul’s 2024 State of the State Directive to Advance Comprehensive Efforts to Reduce the Frequency of Harmful Algal Blooms
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Interim Commissioner Sean Mahar announced the release of draft water quality guidance values to regulate phosphorus in New York State surface waters. Excess phosphorus can contribute to harmful algal blooms (HABs), lower dissolved oxygen levels, increased turbidity, and excessive growth of algae and aquatic plants. The draft guidance values, available for public comment until Feb. 24, 2025, support Governor Kathy Hochul’s 2024 State of the State initiative to issue phosphorus guidance values that are protective of drinking water and fishing best uses in State waters.
“Through Governor Hochul’s leadership, DEC is working with municipalities across the state to advance generational infrastructure investments and projects to protect New York’s waters,” Interim Commissioner Mahar said. “Addressing the nutrients that fuel harmful algal blooms is a critical component of New York State’s comprehensive actions to reduce the frequency of HABs and their potential impacts on drinking water quality, recreation, and overall quality of life, and I encourage New Yorkers to review and comment on this important proposal.”
Phosphorus is naturally present and essential to aquatic ecosystem functions and as a result is difficult to regulate to a single concentration across all waters. The proposed phosphorus guidance released today and available on DEC’s website varies depending on the region of the state and type of waterbody (ponded vs. flowing) and is paired to an environmental response variable representing ecosystem health. The response variables allow confirmation of phosphorus impacts to the waterbodies human health or aquatic life uses.
Governor Hochul’s 2024 State of the State introduced a suite of actions to safeguard clean water, including initiatives to protect water quality, root out emerging contaminants, protect against climate change, ensure affordability, and prioritize disadvantaged communities. In particular, Governor Hochul directed DEC to issue guidance values for phosphorus to drive comprehensive efforts to reduce the frequency of HABs that have the potential to negatively impact drinking water quality and access to swimming and recreation in New York’s waters.
The guidance values are supplemented by draft updates to DEC’s phosphorus permitting strategy and establish a process for prioritizing and reducing phosphorus loads from wastewater treatment plants. The draft guidance values and permitting strategy are included in amended Technical and Operational Guidance Series (TOGS) 1.1.1 - Ambient Water Quality Standards and Guidance Values and Groundwater Effluent Limitations. Revisions to TOGS 1.3.6 - Phosphorus Removal for Wastewater Discharges updates the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permitting strategy for achieving phosphorus reductions in watersheds across New York State. The revised draft expands the applicability from new and expanding facilities discharging to ponded waters to include flowing waters and existing facilities identified as discharging to waterbodies exceeding, or at risk of exceeding, the proposed phosphorus guidance values. Updating TOGS 1.3.6 is necessary to implement phosphorus reductions more broadly and ensure phosphorus reductions are achieved in an environmentally meaningful and economically feasible way.
DEC encourages public comment on the draft guidance. Written statements may be submitted to NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, 4th Floor, Albany, NY 12233-3500, ATTN: Gwendolyn Temple or by email to AWQVinformation@dec.ny.gov. Comments must be submitted by Feb. 24, 2025. The draft TOGS documents and additional information are available on the DEC website or by contacting DEC by mail: NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, Albany NY 12233-3500, ATTN: Gwendolyn Temple, phone by calling (518) 402-8194, or e-mail at AWQVinformation@dec.ny.gov.
New York's Ongoing Commitment to Water Quality
The announcement is the latest step DEC is taking to improve the health of New York’s waterways, including recent funding made available through the Clean Water, Clean Air and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022, the State’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), and the Clean Water Infrastructure Act (CWIA).
The Water Quality Improvement Project Program (WQIP) supports municipal wastewater treatment upgrades, polluted runoff abatement and control, land acquisition projects for drinking water protection, salt storage construction, aquatic connectivity restoration, and marine habitat restoration. These projects support the DEC's ongoing efforts to reduce nutrient pollution statewide, and complement this initiative to develop guidance values for phosphorus and support the reduction of HABs that negatively impact drinking water quality and access to swimming and recreation in New York’s waters. More information on this program is available on the DEC WQIP website.
Among the numerous water quality investments made in 2024, Governor Hochul recently announced $42 million for the eastern Finger Lakes region and $1.2 million in funding for the Eastern Finger Lakes Coalition, helping fulfill the Governor’s 2024 State of the State commitment to develop on-the-ground actions necessary to address the root causes of HABs and reduce these potentially harmful blooms while supporting projects that help prevent runoff into lakes and improve climate resiliency. New York State continues to increase its nation-leading investments in water infrastructure, including more than $2.2 billion in financial assistance from the Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) for local water infrastructure projects in State Fiscal Year 2024 alone. With $500 million allocated for clean water infrastructure in the 2024-2025 enacted State Budget announced by Governor Hochul, New York will have invested a total of $5.5 billion in water infrastructure between 2017 and this year. In addition, the $4.2 billion Environmental Bond Act is helping State agencies, local governments, and partners access funding to protect water quality, help communities adapt to climate change, improve resiliency, and create green jobs. Bond Act funding will support new and expanded projects across the state to safeguard drinking water sources, reduce pollution, and protect communities and natural resources from climate change.
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